Recorder actuated by electrically heated wires



1949- E. H. BRANSON RECORDER ACTUATED BY ELECTRICALLY HEATED WIRES Filed Oct. 5, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY Aug. 30, 1949. BRANSON 2,480,443

RECORDER ACTUATED BY ELECTRICALLY HEATED WIRES Filed Oct. 5, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR.

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Patented Aug. 30, 1949 RECORDER. ACTUATED BY ELECTRIGALLY HEATED WIRE-S Edward H. Branson, Rochester, N; Y., assignor to General Railway Signal Company, Rochester,

Application October a, 1945, Serial No. 619,944

7 Claims. 1

This. invention relates to recorders and more particularly to recorders for railway signalling systems for making records of traffic movements, signal aspects, switch positions and the like.

Recorders used for railway signalling purposes usually require a very large number of pens or other suitable. marking devices arranged side by side and spaced very closely together so that the record sheet need not be unnecessarily wide. It is difiicult to provide electro-responsive means suitable for operating. such marking devices by reason of the close spacing required.

In view of the above, and other important considerations it is proposed in accordance with the present invention to provide electro-responsive devices, preferably of the thermal type, having at least two very small dimensions, for. operating the pens or other suitable marking devices in accordance with the conditions of track relays, wayside signals, switch positions or the like. More specifically, it is proposedto employ electro-responsive means of the hot wire type which are small in cross-sectional area but which are quite long and so constructed as to compensate for ambient temperature changes so that the pens or marking devices assume the. same position under like trafllc conditions irrespective of room temperatures. It is also proposed to so construct the recorder that all of the electro-responsiye devices under consideration maybe lifted up and swung out of position in order to enable a new roll of recording paper to be placed into therecorder.

Other objects, purposes and characteristic features of the present invention will in part be pointed out in the specification hereinafter and will in part be obvious from the, accompanying drawings in which:

' Fig. 1. illustrates a plan view of a. recorder embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a sideelevation of the recorder with many of the parts thereof illustrated in cross section, taken. substantially ona line 2*2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3. illustrates a plan, view, with portions thereof broken. away, of a double electro-responsive pen operating structure of which the pens are located side by side and the electro-responsive' devices are arranged one above the other:

Fig. 4 illustrates a side elevation of the ap- 2 Daratus. shown in Fig. 3 with portions thereof cut away to illustrate parts thereof in. cross section;

Fig. 5. illustrates a cross sectional view of'the elcctro-responsive apparatus shown in Figs. 3 and 4 taken on a line 55' of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 illustrates in perspective the anvil illustrated in position in the electro-responsive device in Figs. 3 and 4; and

Fig. 7 shows a double electro-responsive device in perspective and circuits-for operating the same.

SimctuTe.Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the recorder frame comprises a bottom plate Hi together with side plates H and I2, a front plate I3 and a back plate [4. A platen i6 is provided which has its side edges bent at right angles as illustrated at H and t8 in Fig; 2 of the drawings for the purpose of securing this platen It to the inside ofthe walls H and i2 of the casing, as by bolts l5. A toothed record sheet roller 20 is provided for pulling the record sheet 2| from the roller 22 across the platen Hi. This toothed roller 20 is pivotally supported in' side walls H and t2 and is driven by suitable time lapse manifesting means such as an electric or mechanical time movement. In the specific form shown this'roller 2.0 is driven by a synchronous motor SM through the, medium of suitable gearing. By this construction the record sheet will-move at a rate corresponding to the passing of, time so that the hours and minutes of the'day maybe printed directly upon the record sheet. The record sheet is of course set so that the time of day isread by reading. the record sheet at that point where the pens or marking points engage the paper. A slip clutch including'gear 23 driven by synchronous motor SM; plates 26 and a spring 28 pressing them, together has been illustrated.

Directly in front of the platen 6, which is horizontal throughout most of its length but is bent down at both front and rear endsat an angle to form a rounded shoulder around which the record paper 21. may move, there is provided a support plate 25' which supports double unit-electro-responsive devices 30. Theinkwell or trough 26 is supported in brackets 29 suitably secured to the sidewalls H and 1-2. This inkwell contains ink used bythe pens 21, there being two pens for each double unit, that is, one pen for each electro-responsive device. On topof th plate 25 are mounted the double thermal electro-responsive units 30 comprising essential elements of the present invention and directly below this plate 25 are supported binding posts to connect the electro-responsive devices to the control circuits all in a manner as more fully pointed out hereinafter.

Referring now to Figs. 3-7 wherein these thermal electro-responsive devices have been shown more clearly, it will be seen that these electroresponsive devices are grouped in pairs. Each pair is of unitary construction and includes a single supporting block 30, preferably constructed of metal of good heat conducting quality, which has a, centrally located cylindrical opening 31 extending thereinto from one end and has two similar cylindrical openings 32 extending thereinto from the other end. These latter openings are preferably located equal distances on opposite sides of the center line or axis of the opening 3|. The opening 3| is provided with a piston 34 which is urged outwardly by a coil spring 35. In order to keep this piston from turning it is provided with a cross pin 36 having one end thereof extending into a slot 31 in the supporting block 30. The exposed end of this piston or cylindrical push rod 34 has secured thereto an insulating block 40. This insulating block 40 supports four binding posts 51a, Ib, 5!,c and 5ld (Fig. 7.) As more clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 7 the supporting block 30 is provided with four grooves 41 for the purpose of receiving wires 50 as more fully described hereinafter.

In the openings 32 of block 30 are provided compression coil springs 42 which contain anvils 45, one of which has been shown in perspective in Fig. 6 of the drawings. These anvils are each provided with a knife-edge portion 450. each of WhlCh. bears against its associated operating block 41. These operating blocks 4'! are preferabiy of the general configuration illustrated and are provided with a saw slot 48 into which the junction of two thermal wires 50 extends and is secured. These wires of two such electroresponsive devices are fastened to the terminal bolts 5 la, 5lb, Me and 5 Id secured in the insulating block 40. It is thus seen that the spring 35 bearing against the push rod or piston 34 will not only tension these four thermal wires 50 but will also urge the operating blocks 41 against their respective anvil points 45a. In practice the spring 35 is of such strength that it is capable of overcoming the tension of the two springs 42 so that the anvils 45 are pushed into the openings 32 and slots 44 to an extent where the operatr ing blocks 41 rest fully against the end of the supporting block 30. It may be pointed out at this time that not only do the wires 50 pass through the slots 48 in the operating blocks 41 but these wires are actually soldered or welded, as shown at 52, into these slots so as to constitute both a mechanical and electrical connection between the wires 50 and the operating blocks 41. Since the supporting block 30 as well as the anvils 45 and operating blocks 41 are all preferably constructed of metal, the mid-points of all these operating blocks 41 and of the thermal wires 50 are electrically connected together through the supporting plate 25 to one terminal of a source of current (see Fig. 7). It is readily seen that if current is caused to flow from one of the terminal bolts 51a, 5lb, 5Ic or 5ld to a ground connection at the point 45a in one of the operating blocks 41, that only the wire 50 connected to that terminal bolt will be heated, and that the elongation of this heated wire will allow only one 4 particular spring 42 to push its associated anvil outwardly against the mid-point of the associated operating block 4'! to thereby cause the operating block to rotate, so to speak, on the other of its two outer edges, to thereby cause the pen holder or other suitable marking device 55 to be operated to the right or left as the case may be. It will be seen that these pen holders 55 (see Fig. 3) for each pair are shaped to lie in difierent vertical planes, even though their respective operating blocls 4'! lie directly one over the other in the same vertical plane. Furthermore, although the operating blocks 4! lie in difierent horizontal planes their respective marking points lie in the same horizontal plane. By this construction two electro-responsive devices which are located one above the other may operate two pen holders lying side by side.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings it will be observed that a plurality of such supporting blocks 30 are mounted side by side but spaced from each other on the supporting plate 25 of the recorder. It will also be seen (see Fig. 2) that the pen holders or marking arms 55 are of such shape that the free ends thereof occupy the same horizontal plane. These pen holders 55 are provided with two openings 55 and 57 along the side of which are located wings 58 and 59 respectively formed by tabs of the metal bent at right angles. By referring to Fig. '7 it will be seen that the wings 58 of the bottom electroresponsive devices are projected downwardly whereas the wings 58 for the upper electroresponsive device project upwardly. All of the Wings 59 are bent upwardly. The wings 58 and 59 serve to provide additional support for the penholders 55 at points where such penholders are pierced for the insertion of the marking devices 21. These openings 5-6 and 51 with their associated wings 58 and 59 respectively are used for holding the pen 21. Each pen is composed of a small metallic tube 2'! bent substantially at a right angle to the end of which is secured an elbow-shaped writing nozzle 21a preferably constructed of glass. The holes in this tube 21 and writing nozzle 27a are of capillary size so that if this pen is once filled with ink capillary attraction will cause the ink to be lifted out of the inkwell 26 to the writing end of the nozzle 21a. and to the recording strip or paper 2|. The writing end of this nozzle 21a rests on the paper strip 21 so that as the roller 20 is operated by suitable clock mechanism including synchronous motor SM it will cause a straight line to be drawn on the paper when neither of the two associated thermal wires has current applied thereto. If, however, current is applied to one of these two thermal wires 50 the associated operating block 41 will be tilted to the right or to the left, as the case may be, due to the elongation of this wire and cause the pen holder and its associated pen 2'! to be moved to the right or left, to thereby cause the line drawn on the paper strip 2| to be correspondingly shifted to indicate the happening of a particular event the recording of which is proposed.

Each of the binding posts 5|a, 51b, 5lc and 5Id is connected by a jumper 53 to an associated binding post 6! (see Fig. 2) having a corresponding suifix and mounted below the plate 25. A cable 62 is suitably horizontally mounted below and to the supporting plate 25 with its various wires 64 fanned out and connected to the binding posts 6|. This cable 62 is of sufiicient length that the lifting of the supporting plate 25 about the pivot II on which it is hinged is permitted by the bending of this cable It. In other words, the entire writing mechanism including numer-L- eussupporting blocks 30 mounted supporting plate and all oi the electroaresponsive apparatus associated therewith including numerous. pens 21- may be lifted up and swung about the hollow pin 85' as a pivot, as aresult of which the various pens 21 will be lifted from the inkwell 26.. This lifting of the eleotrorresponsive mechanism and pens enables a new roll of' record paper to be put on the roller 22 and threaded over the platen l8 and onto. the toothed roller 29, driven by suitable clock mechanism.

of course nowolearly understood that each electro-responsive device includes two wires 50 extending from their respective binding posts 5| to. the common operating block 41. These wires are. preferably resistance wires having considerable resistance and which also have a high temperature coefiicient of expansion as a result of which electrical energy is not only readily convcrtcd into heat. but also as a result to this heat is efliciently converted into mechanism move,

ment. A wire suitable for this purpose is known as Nichrome wire. If one of these two wires is heated the block 41 will be operated in one direction about a vertical axis whereas if the other wire 50 of the pair is heated this block 41 will operate in the opposite direction about a similar vertical axis. From this it is readily understood that a pen holder 55 may be operated to the right or to the left from a neutral position depending upon which of its two wires 50 has electrical energy applied thereto. Furthermore, it is readily seen that each Wire 50 serves as an ambient temperature correcting means for its associated wire. This is true because if room temperature changes both of the wires '50 are either elongated or contracted as is also true'of the pair of wires located either directly belowor directly above the pair in question and associated with the same supporting block 30, as a result of which the single spring 35 associated with all of these four wires 50 will either be compressed or elongated depending upon, whether the room temperature was lowered or increased, respectively. By this construction the various pen points will make straight parallel lines on the record strip so long as no current is applied to any of the wires 50 in spite of large changes in room temperature. In other words, adequate compensation for ambient. temperature has been provided for in the thermal electro-responsive devices described.

These pens are spaced apart distances and operate sidewise distances such that any one of the three parallel lines each pen is capable of drawing will not overlap with lines drawn by an adjacent pen.

It will be readily apparent that the structure of the electro-responsive devices as has been heretoiore set forth is such that each wire 50 can operate its ass ciated markin d vic 21 in accordance with the heating of that wire, only'if it is heated relative to the. wire 50 connected to the opposite. side of the associated operating block 41; In other words, if both wires 50 of a pair are nergi ed so as to be heated contemporan y. the marking device 21 assoc at d th r with as.- sumes its center position and either of the conditions of energization.

In view of these considerations, and in order to take advantage of the full capacity of the recorder to handle a maximum number of distinctlve conditions to be recorded, it is necessary that tails to register the conditions to be recorded be so allocated. to the respective wires 5i)v that energy is at no time applied to both wires of a pair at the same time. Thus, when the recorder is used in railway signalling practice for the purposes set forth, care must be taken in the connection of the recorder circuits to so group. the circuits that there can be no error in recording due to. any trafiic and/ or signal conditions being contemporaneousl effective to energize two. wires 50 of a pair at the same time.

Fig. 7 illustrates a typical manner of allocating the various recorder circuits so that there is never a conflict between the wires 50 of a pair. The wires '50 of the upper pair are illustrated as being energized through back contacts is and H of relays MI and M2 respectively. The relays M1 and M2 are. signal repeater relays commonly employed inpractice for repeating the stop indication of their associated signals. Thus the relays Mi and M2 are respectively associated with the contacts 8| and 82 of the opposing signals SI and S2, which signals are in turn associated with the main track 10 for governing trafiic through the track switch SW which connects the track H to the main track 70.

The conventional control circuits (not shown) for the Opposing signals SI and S2 allow only one of such signals to be clear at a time. Thus only one of the relays M can be deenergized at a time, and therefore only one of the top pair of wires 53 can be energized at a time. For the condition of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 7, energy is applied to terminal 5Ib associated with one of the wires 50 of the top pair, through back contact 15 of relay Ml because signal SI is assumed to be clear, thus holding the circuit open for the relay Ml at contact 8|.

The Wires 50 of the lower pair which are connected to terminals 5| 0 and Bid respectively are used in recording the occupancy by respective eastbound and westbound trains of the detector track section with which the relay TB, is asso ciated. Inasmuch as only a single direction of traffic can be established at a time through the detector track section, there can be no conflict in the energization of the wires 50 associated with the lower operating block 41, because at no time can energy be applied contemporaneously to the terminal posts 5lc and 51d. The direction relay DB. is controlled in a suitable manner (not shown), as from a control oilice, and its polar contact 15 selects whether the back contact 14 of the track relay TR. is to be connected to terminal 5|c or terminal 5ld.

. There are of course other combinations of connections for the recorder circuits that are satisfactory, but in using such combinations it must be considered that there is an overlapping of the signal recording controls and the track circuit recording controls for the same direction of traffic in that it is the dropping away of the track relay TR that puts a signal to stop governing entrance to the detector track section, and thus the relay TB, is dropped away to initiate the recording of the occupancy of the detector track section before the signal clear recorder circuit has had time to open by the picking up of the signal repeater relay Ml or M2 that has been deenergized.

It, is thus provided that each of the marking devices 21 will normally mark a continuous straight line on the record chart paper when its associated electroeresponsive device is deenergized, will be operated to the right and held in that position as long as the right-hand wire 50 is energized, and will be operated to the left and held in that position as long as the left-hand wire 50 in energized. It is thus provided that records are made in accordance with passage of trains on the record receiving paper 2| as shown in Fig. 1 to convey information to the operator of a centralized traffic control machine as to the speed and delays encountered by the respective trains.

Having thus shown and described only one specific embodiment of the invention, it should be understood that the embodiment described and illustrated has been selected to facilitate the disclosure of the invention, its principle of operation, and the manner in which the invention may be practiced, rather than its scope, and has not been selected to show the exact construction necessarily employed in practicing the invention, and it should be understood that various changes, modifications and additions may be made in practicing the invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof as long as these changes come within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim as new is:

1. An electro-responsive marking device for recorders of the type wherein a large number of marking devices are arranged side-by-side with their marking points spaced extremely short distances apart comprising; a supporting block, an operating block engaging one end of said supporting block, a Wire extending along each side of said supporting block fastened to said operating block at one end and to the far end of said supporting block at the other end, a spring pressed anvil engaging substantially the middle of said operating block tending to move the middle portion of said operating block away from said supporting block, marking means fixedly secured to said operating block, and means for passing current at times through one of said wires, whereby when one of said wires is heated said anvil will operate the middle portion of said operating block away from said supporting block to an extent dependent on the temperature of the heated wire to thereby partially rotate said operating block and actuate the associated marking device.

2. An electro-responsive marking device for recorders of the type wherein a large number of marking devices are arranged side-by-side with their marking points spaced extremely short d.stances apart comprising; a supporting block, an operating block engaging one end of said supporting block, a wire extending along each side of said supporting block fastened to said operating block at one end and to the far end of said supporting block at the other end, a spring for applying tension to both of said wires, an anvil engaging substantially the middle of said operating block, a second spring tending to mOVe said anvil and the middle portion of said operating block away from said supporting block, marking means fixedly secured to said operating block, and means for passing current at times through one of said wires, whereby when one of said wires 7 is heated said anvil will operate the middle portion of said operating block away from said supporting block to an extent dependent on the temperature of the heated wire to thereby partially rotate said operating block and actuate the associated marking device.

3. Electro-responsive means for operating the marking points of a recorder of the type wherein a large number of marking points are closely spaced in a row crosswise of a longitudinally moving record strip, comprising; a knife-edge bearing,

a block engaging said knife-edge bearing, two wires extending substantially parallel to each other from said block substantially equal distances on opposite sides of the knife edge of said bearing to a fixed support, a spring for holding said block against said knife-edgebearing through the medium of said wires, a lever projecting from said block, a marking point on the free end of said lever, and means for passing current at times through one or the otherof said wires, whereby said marking point is moved sidewise in one direction if one of said wires is elongated by reason of being heated by current flowing therein and is moved sidewise in the opposite direction if the other of said wires is elongated by reason of bein heated by current flowing therein. V

1 .4. In a recorder ofthecharacter'described in which a plurality of records are marked simultaneously by marking. devices on a record receiv-. ing member that is driven at a substantially constant speed, anelectro-responsive device for actuating each of said marking devices comprising an operating block coupled to one of said devices and pivoted to rotate on a vertical axis, a Wire of substantial length securedagainst movement at one end and having its other end secured-to a point on said operating block spaced to one side of said pivot point, an anchorage for said operating block spaced to the other side;of said pivot point, and biasing means efiective to maintain said wire under tension at all times and actuate said operating block about its pivot point in accordance with thelinear expansion of said wire.

5. In a recorder having electrically actuated marking devices for marking a plurality of continuous records on a record receiving member, an electro-responsive device for each of said marking devices comprising an operating block operatively connected to one of said marking devices and pivoted to rotate on a vertical axis, a wire of substantial length extending horizontally with respect to said axis, said wire being secured against movement at one end and having its other end secured to a point on said block spaced to one side of said vertical axis, an anchorage for said operating block spaced to the other side of said pivot point, and biasing means effective to actuate said block about its pivot point as limited by the linear expansion of said Wire, said anchorage and said wire cooperating to be effective as ambient temperature correction means for rendering said operating block non-responsive to variations in temperature of said wire except when said wire varies in temperature with respect to other parts of said recorder.

6. In a recorder having a plurality of electrically actuated record marking devices for marking a plurality of continuous distinctive records simultaneously on a record receiving member driven at a constant rate of speed, an electro-responsive deviceIfor actuating each of said marking devices comprising an operating block operatively connected to one of said mark- .ing devices and having a central bearing point,

a pair of laterally disposed wires secured against movement at one'end and having their opposite ends secured to said operating blockat opposite sides from said bearing point, and biasing means actuated longitudinally with respect to said wires against said bearing point to maintain said wires under tension irrespective of their linear expansion, whereby said electr c-responsive means is efiective to actuate its associated marking device to a first position when only a particular one of said wires isheated by an electric current, to a 9 second position when only the other of said wires is heated by an electric current and to a third and normal position upon removal of heat from either of said wires when the other wire has no heat applied thereto.

7. In a recorder, the combination with two marking devices of an electro-responsive device for actuating said devices comprising operating blocks for the respective marking devices, a pair of laterally spaced wires of substantial equal length for operating each of said operating blocks, said wires being secured against movement at one end and being secured at the other end to spaced points on the associated operating block, a supporting block having one of its ends biased against both of said operating blocks, said supporting block normally making contact with each of said operating blocks at two spaced points, and biasing means associated with each of said operating blocks, said biasing means acting on a point substantially mid-way between said EDWARD H. BRANSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,858,457 Mottashed et a1. May 17, 1932 1,925,515 Beck Sept. 5, 1933 2,002,086 Belaef May 28, 1935 2,220,881 Barnes et al Nov. 12, 1940 2,327,811 McRae Aug. 24, 1943 2,346,802 Walker Apr. 18, 1944 

